A.J. Burnett's sometimes poor choice of words

It's understandable why Joe Girardi, and tonight A.J. Burnett did the same, bring up the 2009 postseason when the righthander has gone through some of his struggles this year.

There might not have been a bigger start turned in by anyone that was more important than Burnett's Game 2 start against the Phillies, with the Yankees trailing 1-0 in the series.

And after getting his proverbial head handed to him tonight, asked about getting a postseason start this year, Burnett called on the ghosts of 2009.

“You saw what I did last year in the postseason,” Burnett said. “Everybody says the season doesn’t matter here, the postseason does. So there you go.”

There you go?

Yes, Burnett was tremendous in Game 2 of the World Series and was outstanding in Game 2 of the ALDS against the Twins. But in five 2009 postseason starts overall, he was 1-1 with a 5.27 ERA, hardly numbers that rank him as some kind of all-time playoff performer. What he was in last year's postseason was what he's been this year, and has been throughout his career -- wildly inconsistent; just as capable of throwing a gem as he is a clunker.

Burnett said his confidence was “down” after the game but that wouldn't be the case when tomorrow dawned. 

“The way my season’s been, I’m not going to let it affect me,” Burnett said, before not quite seeming to find the right words. “I’ve been through way worse nights than tonight and I’m going to have way worse nights than tonight. It’s a matter of turning the page and getting over it and realize what we did, what went wrong and fixing it.”

Girardi said Burnett would start this weekend in Fenway Park in turn. Beyond that? 

"We’re going to continue to evaluate our guys as we move forward,” Girardi said. “Let’s get in and then we can make more evaluations.”

Still, it's hard to imagine Burnett not getting one start [the Yankees still have him for three years after this season], though in which game is anyone's guess.

“It’s something we have to keep working on, definitely,” Girardi said. “He got hit hard tonight, there’s no doubt about it. You just have to keep working at it, there’s no other way to approach it.”